Blurb:

Rating: 3/5

Review:
This book caught my attention within the blurb, which is always a good thing. Primarily because for years I’ve memorised the steps and routes to get to places, it’s a life long habit, it’s your life when you are visually impaired and later blind. Your feet become your eyes. Although Lou nor any character in this book are visually impaired, it caught my attention non the less because I wanted to see what other kind of person took refuge in counting and memorising steps and routes in their daily life.

Me Before You is about a guy in his mid thirties called Will, he was a high flyer, over achiever, attack each day of your life kind of guy until his accident, which left him a paraplegic with no use of his limbs, and the only things that work are his brain and his mouth. Lou on the other hand flies under the radar and retreats from the idea of being who she should be and was because everyone in the family makes her feel that her younger sister is a better version of her than she ever was. In my opinion, her family are complete idiots except for the Grandfather and they are welcome to Katrina who’s selfish and pushy and hopefully her fictional son doesn’t turn out to be the same as his mother. Brains are good but if you don’t understand feeling, the world is lost to you. I’m glad at the end when Lou walks out on them, she deserves better. In typical love story fashion, the two leads can’t stand each other at the beginning but forced to work with each other they develop a relationship and by the end you couldn’t tear them apart. Lou has 6 months to change WIll’s mind about going to Dignitas to end his existence, he wouldn’t call it a life and the friendship that forms between them in that short amount of time will have a impact on both of them for the rest of their lives, long or short. It will make you laugh and if you are the over emotional type, perhaps cry. I thought it was a bit drawn out, almost 500 pages I didn’t think it needed to be that long.

I read my version on the Kobo eReader and there were more than the usual amount of typo’s, not sure if this was down to a bug, the proofreader and checker didn’t do their job properly or if the original author didn’t know how to spell. I’m hoping it’s the first reason. I don’t know if it’s the same for the Paper back or Kindle editions. It was off putting and because of the number of errors it made you slip out of the story world and into reality which is not what you want to happen.

The plot moved at a good pace mostly throughout the book but I felt the characters didn’t really feel fully formed. I like substance to my characters as well as the plot lines and I felt this was neglected. Being disabled myself although not a paraplegic I definitely lent more towards Will’s character than any one else, but I could see the value and understand both points of view. I had a deja vu moment in the first few chapters like I had read this storyline before but I’m pretty sure I hadn’t picked this book up before and I know I haven’t read any other works by this author. I enjoyed the descriptions of the places, especially at the end it was a good image to finish on.

Blurb:

Other books in the Celestra Series include;
Tremble (Celestra Series Book 2)
Burn (Celestra Series Book 3)
Wicked (Celestra Series Book 4)
Vex (Celestra Series Book 5)
Expel (Celestra Series Book 6)

Rating: 4/5
Review:
“Falling in love is a lot like death. It chooses you. It decides the moment and the chain of events that will preclude the precise intersection of life in which it occurs. It uses you treats you as though you were malleable in its warm pliable hands. It doesn’t bother to ask if you want it, or need it, just fills the gaping hole of destiny’s design”.
Ethereal is a paranormal romance for young adult readers, it feels very Twilightish but it’s Angels not Vampires. It doesn’t have the same impact that Daughter of Smoke and Bone has on me but it was a breath of fresh air compared to the last few disappointing books I’ve read. Skyla is a sixteen year old average American teenager complete with LA cheerleading looks. The family has just moved from LA to the island of Paragon where her step father’s business has taken them. Skyla as well as being an average teenager is also a Celestra the highest rank of earth bound Angel, her father was also a Celestra but as events unfold and she discovers more about who she is it becomes apparent that she is a pure Celestra meaning that her mother has to be one as well. This discovery opens up a whole can of worm trouble with other Angel factions wanting to be rid of pure Celestra’s so they can’t mate and produce more that could intern over throw
the balance. With the help of Logan and Gage the high school heart throbs who also happen to be cousins, plus Angel’s themselves. Skyla can learn to use her power and keep her life. With the background of cheerleading competitiveness, no parents at home weekend parties, and the usual crush fest it’s an amusing quick read. I liked the pace and wittiness of Moore’s writing and portrayal.The characters are well developed and very believable in their roles. I did cringe at the cheesy cheerleading cat fighting trio, so I was pleased they didn’t feature much, if they had I probably wouldn’t have finished the book. The twists and turns of the plot are fun and not overly predictable. I didn’t think swearing/cussing was particularly necessary or conducive to the story, it’s not overly done but not all teenagers use offensive language and there are other ways of portraying shock and annoyance.

I enjoyed the plot turn where we’re all fuelled by Skyla’a distrust of her step dad to go along with thinking that the hidden money is his I was surprised and I love that in a book! For a sixteen year old Skyla seems pretty immature so I’m hoping she grows up a bit more in the next few books.

Blurb:

Rating: 2/5
Review:
The premise of this book sounded really good and I was excited to follow the journey, however it was evident from early on that this was going to be a long and frustrating read. I hate to give up on books so early on I was determined to keep the hope that it would get better. It didn’t, I feel cheated of wasting a day reading this and not ‘progressing’ as a book should. The fact that this is book 1 of a trilogy fills me understandably with trepidation, most openings to trilogies are often the best in the series, they can stand alone. Not in this case. I don’t enjoy writing negative reviews, I also don’t enjoy not enjoying stories and having to push myself to read them with the stubborn hope that something of interest actually comes across a page. Especially when they promise a good plot line. I felt through the entire book that it dragged, the dialogue was repetitive, there were strange uses of the word ‘it’. The main character Juvela started of interesting but then once you discover not only her mother dosing her up on love drugs so she’ll be acceptable to any guy that looks her way, Juvela herself goes along with it! a capable 17 year old girl, who should know her own mind goes along with it, first mistake. Second mistake, the predictable.. lets herself get drunk and then pregnant by a playboy.

The sumptuous descriptions of the rose garden, the streets, market squares, port are the only light in this book, they hold some interest but they are so many chapters apart from each other I couldn’t recommend you boring yourself with the whole book just to pick out a few lines of interest. It’s very slow paced read and drives you insane at the snails pace and then you aren’t rewarded at the end of it. The action scenes happen almost over one page and it’s over too soon and then you’re back to boring back chat.
The characters aren’t that interesting or believable, Maria barely makes any impact on the storyline despite being the kidnapped daughter. The husband has such a presence in the first few chapters, even being an unlikelable character at least he feels like a real person. Then he’s practically a mute ghost until the end. It’s a shame! I usually really enjoy first person narrative but the fact I couldn’t stand the main character made this even harder to read, I don’t think it was best suited to this format.

I finally pushed myself towards the end only not to be rewarded with an interesting battle, or the truth being revealed, just the ghost like characters floating off back into nothingness. A disappointing read and I find it hard to believe it got a 4 star rating on Amazon. I know this is the debut book of it’s author and I have high hopes that this is just a little blip that we all have and great stories and better quality writing will come from him.

Blurb:

Review:
Unwind is a gritty story that throws us sometime into the future, where humanity has clearly lost it’s humanity and given it up to denial. After a war called The Heartland War which was about the age old question, is termination of a baby good or bad, should it be legal or illegal etc. Neither sides won and in the end the military came in with a suggestion. Unwinding and The Bill of Life. Whereby parents/guardians could sign the Unwind papers and have their unwanted or troublesome offspring unwound, not killing them you understand, just unwound. Each and every part of the unwind is used to benefit the population, if someone needs a new eye, a new limb, a blood transfusion, that is what unwinds are for, so they aren’t technically dead, because their soul/spirit is still living, in other people, so it can’t be called murdering, but it solves the problem of what to do with an unwanted child or troublesome teenager you can’t handle anymore.  Storking is another loophole, if a mother doesn’t want her baby she can ‘stork’ it to someone else, and providing she doesn’t get caught in the act of leaving a baby on a doorstep, she no longer has responsibility for it and the family who find the baby on their doorstep, who have been ‘storked’ have to legally take care of the new baby. unless they stork it to another family and also do not get caught in the act, they are then free of  all obligation.
Unwinding has to take place before the child turns 18 after that they are legally adults and cannot be unwound.

“The Bill Of Life
The Second Civil War, also known as “The Heartland War”, was a long and bloody conflict fought over a single issue. To end the war, a set of constitutional amendments known as “The Bill of Life” was passed. It satisfied both the Pro-life and Pro-choice armies. The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen. However, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, a parents may choose to retrospectively “abort” a child on the condition that the child’s life doesn’t “technically” end. The process by which a child is both terminated and yet kept alive is called “unwinding”. Unwinding is now a common, and accepted practice in society”.

Conner is the main and first character we meet in the book, he is a typical teen who doesn’t get on with his parents most of the time and takes little or no interest in school, however, his anger towards his parents has boiled up to an all time high now that he’s found out they’ve signed the Unwind papers for him and to top it off, next to the signed document are three plane tickets to the Bahamas. Two for his parents and one for his younger brother. Conner has gone through all the expected emotions but anger stays prominent and bubbling under the surface. Conner doesn’t plan on sticking around for the cops to come and pick him up on his Unwind date, he grabs what little still means to him in a bag and makes a run for it. At first Conner seems like a lot of boys I knew growing up evident attitude problem but deep down he really does care, despite his logical kicks he’d prefer to be in charge, sometimes it’s his emotional side that wins and this is what makes most of the differences when it comes to survival and me respecting him a lot more.

Risa is a ward of state like countless others, trouble is as always state homes need money and there is never enough to go around, which means budget cuts and Risa has won the lucky opportunity of being worth more in a divided state than she does currently in her whole state. I think out of all the characters Risa is my favourite, she grows into herself the most, she’s always been smart, mature and keeps her thoughts grounded in practicality. But if it wasn’t for Risa the glue of the unusual unwind group, everything would turn out differently. I’m also glad that the author didn’t go mad with the ott romance storyline like a lot of YA fiction authors do, there’s so much more to a story that just a tragic romance, it’s over done and I’m glad to say, if you’re just into the story, the drama or survival than this is it, it’s not The Hunger Games but it’s better than Twilight in my opinion, plus no stupid vampires.

Lev is a Tithe. He was born and raised to be unwound but for religious purposes only, he has a greater purpose. Lev has been spoilt and known no evil in his life up until his 13th birthday, he is given a great send off by his friends, family and church. He has no doubt in his mind that being unwound is his destiny and he will meet it with dignity. At first I think you are purposefully directed to dislike Lev for what he is, but I found it hard to dislike him even from the start, being of a religious background myself I think I can relate to the bullying, the judgement and suspiciousness of peers, not being completely sure myself, then being totally sure, listening to elders for guidance and then realising they’re just as clueless as me. Lev changes the most mentally in the story he goes to extremes and back again, a really interesting character and I was left wanting to know a bit more about him and his family, but that might just be because we come from faiths and that’s naturally an interest point. And YES I know this is fiction, but still. I get emotionally involved with characters ok I make no apologies for it.

Overall I did enjoy reading the book, despite it’s difficult issue nature. I am and will always be against abortion/termination, It was a turn pager and I invested in the characters, really felt their passion for survival. I have to admit I didn’t think they would really go through with Unwinding …’s character at the end, it was a shock and I didn’t feel at all like “Yes! finally justification” I just felt sort of sad, no matter how evil someone is, death is never the answer, death is a release not a punishment. I hoped and wanted to make sure they did come out with a big middle finger to the authorities who clearly were power mad and lost their humanity, I wasn’t disappointed. Tbe ending was the perfect ending for the book and I hope people do take the time to read this book and make sure THIS is not our future.
One of my favourite mental images from this book is of the three of them hiding out in the forest before the whole journey begins.

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Although this features a young girl called Liesl and she rides on a train that sets her on a life changing journey, this is not The Book Thief.
Liesl and Po, is a essentially a fairy tale. It’s about loss, lonelyness, friendship, family, adventure and magic!

Liesl is 11 years old and is imprisoned in a tiny attic room by her stepmother. She whiles away the endless hours staring out of the tiny window, sleeping and drawing in the early hours of the morning. Three nights ago her father died, poisoned by his second wife, Augusta, Liesl’s step mother. The butler didn’t do it but the soup certainly did.
Liesl hates her step mother for not letting her see her father for 13 months, the entire time shes been locked away and even more so for not getting the chance to say goodbye for ever.

Po is a ghost who’s been on ‘the other side’ for so long it can’t remember if it’s a boy or a girl or if it’s constant pet companion Bundle is dog or cat. Po is drawn to Liesl as it senses the light from her room coming through the fabric of the universe, but when the light doesn’t glow for 3 days Po finds itself crossing over to seek out why and in doing so the two lonely souls become friends. Po takes messages back and forth to Liesl’s dad, back on ‘the other side’. Liesl’s dad wants his ashes to be buried under the willow tree to be by his first wife whom he still loves.

So Liesl and Po plan Liesl’s escape with the ashes to fulfil her fathers last wish. However, due to a mixup of misidentified boxes, one containing the ashes of Liesl’s father and the other containing the most powerful magic ever made, also several people including a ‘useless’ alchemist’s apprentice, the insulting alchemist himself, Augusta and her daughter Vera who pretends to be Liesl to keep up public appearance, a proud woman with a dark history now reffering to herself as The Lady Premiere, her slow minded but endlessly kind guard Mo and his cat Lefty, a policeman aided by a very nosey old bag who has nothing better to do but stick her nose in everyone and anyone’s business and thinks her opinions should be laws, and finally a long lost brother who’s been waiting a very long time for, in his mind, justice.

Reactions:
I didn’t really start getting into the story till chapter 10 and I think over all the plot was drawn out unnecessarily, it was a distraction.. The climax of the story I felt was rushed in comparison and not totally satisfactorily. Besides, what happens to Vera? She just disappears.  I found it quite hard to believe that anybody, and we all know a very nosy person, would drop whatever their plans were to chase a strange girl they didn’t know and had only talked to for a few minutes on a train journey, and see it as their life goal to have them ‘locked up for the better good’. I don’t have an issue with Mo’s character being determined to track Will down and present him with a hat to keep his head warm, because I can see many autistic/asperges friends with that passionate determination to fulfil a stubborn thought or challenge and he reminds me fondly of them.

At under 350 pages it’s a short afternoon read aimed at middle school readers and still an enjoyable escape. A good moral showing that pride comes before a very big fall and justice will always happen, and with a little sprinkle of magic… Anything can happen if you just BELIEVE.
I was really touched by the authors note describing the book as an emotion confession, working her way through the journey of losing a close friend and that in fantasy,
we can have our happy endings so it doesn’t matter too much if in reality we don’t. And inevitably things usually get much worse before they get better.

Rating: 3/5

‘Anticipation. The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on the downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not’.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a beautifully written, imaginative and captivating read. I couldn’t put it down and I wish I had paused over it a little more and spread it out over a week or so rather than devouring it in less than two days. 

The story takes place in the late 1800’s and into the early 1900’s and has three intertwining parts, with you as the reader being one of them. The main story is ‘The Challenge’ between two schools of thought, one methodical and studious the other practical, Celia and Marco are entered into the binding challenge without their consent at a very young age and they are never told in great detail about the rules of the challenge, how it will finish or even how long it will last. The challenge takes place in a unique venue created for the purpose, which is the Night Circus.

‘There is a complicated looking lock holding the gates shut, and a small sign that reads: Gates Open at Night-fall & Close at Dawn’

Celia and Marco train separately for years each with their own instructor, Celia’s instructor is her father Prospero the Enchanter. A narrow minded and in some places abusive man who will stop at nothing, even if that means sacrificing his own daughter in order to win the challenge. We learn later in the book that this challenge isn’t the first and that he lost last time with his student giving up and killing themselves. When Celia is left in his care after her mothers suicide, he realizes she has a natural talent for magic or what he calls enchanting. He see‘s this as a great opportunity to get one up on his former instructor and prove that books and study mean nothing when you have a natural talent providing you can keep in control or your emotions.

Marco’s instructor was Prospero the Enchanter’s previous instructor, and he instructs him in a completely different way. He doesn’t engage with him much, and leaves Marco alone in his room, pouring over books for many years, learning the theory of how things can be manipulated and going to theaters to watch the mechanics of tricks and learn the difference.

Neither one are told who their opponent is but they can sense each other as they leave a trace of energy once they have made a move. 

The second thread is a character called Bailey, a farm boy growing up knowing he wants more than to carry on the family tradition of sheep farming but not expecting anything to come from the growing arguments between his Grandmother and his Father about going to Harvard. Things start to change when the Night Circus comes to a local field and he can’t stay away from the place.

The third thread is you. You are taken along to the Night Circus to enjoy it’s many
wonders, smell the unique caramel and smokey vibe and feel part of it for a few hours. 

The challenge takes place over many years and in the book it tends to flip back and forth, a lot of people expressed that reading this in the Kindle version was a little confusing because of the flips but I didn’t find this. However I am tempted to buy the hardback print version so that I can keep coloured markers in the different sections. I think reading it from cover to cover as I did is perfectly fine and probably intended. But I look forward to reading it from the different years together, I expect it will flow differently. 
Also, the British hardback edition is beautifully designed with the pages being edged in black which ties in with the theme and spirit of the book. I don’t know what other country versions are like but I’ve seen the American printed edition and the cover and pages are different. 

It’s a slow paced book, one to savour and pause over, you don’t want to rush this book and it’s one that the more you read it the more you will get out of it, something different each time. It’s an adult book but not for overly sexual or violent references I think it’s more for the description of scenes and atmosphere. A YA audience, nearer 12-15 might find it overwhelming, boring and not understand it. But I think older YA readers will enjoy it and appreciate the time needed to take over it. 

It’s a story of dreams, love, finding your potential and rising to the challenge of life. The characters really come alive from the page, you are instantly transported to a very descriptive time in history, you feel a part of it. Poppet, Widget, Bailey, Celia, Marco and even Isobel become close friends. It’s a night time journey and the train is leaving, are you coming for the ride?

‘You think. as you walk away from Le Cirque des Reves and into the creeping dawn, that you felt more awake within the confines of the circus. You are no longer quite certain which side of the sense in the dream’. 

Rating: 5/5

It had stopped raining but was still icy cold with the wind, but we headed out anyway as the steps in question were just down the road. We went up them fine and then I was instructed to drop the harness and hold on to the rail, it was a bit hard as it was soaking wet and icy cold. I thought if my hand doesn’t slip off, it may freeze to it instead.  Neither happened and we eventually got down the steps with my heart in my brain. Ellie seemed non plussed.

Afterwards we walked around down with the trainer behind us and Ellie decided to take me to Grandma’s. Then we found the crossing and started up the high street in search of a coffee shop, all three on the road were closed, something to do with it being winter an wet perchance?
Eventually the trainer spotted one across the road, which was open, so we dived in.

I had the biggest, work of art, hot chocolate you have ever seen. It had syrup and chocolate sprinkles in a flower shape. It was hard to swirl the spoon in and drink it, wrecking that carefully crafted chocolateness. I got over it pretty quickly and it was very nice too, we hardly talked about Guide Dogs or how I was getting on at all, we talked mostly on books and art. She had noticed my painting up on the walls and asked me about them, I told her the painting of Lily that she liked the most was a character from one of my short stories, I thought she deserved to have a face so I painted one. Then we got onto writing and self publishing and what sort of things I wrote. I explained I’m really into epic fiction and that I loved the Ted Dekker Circle Trilogy and how I wanted to write something like that one day. Also our shared love for Philip Pullman’s His Dark Trilogy and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

A couple of things she did mention were to take the harness of Ellie when we are sitting in a cafe setting for more than 5 minutes. I’ve never done this because if Ellie isn’t wearing the harness people aren’t going to know she’s a working dog and will tell me off for having a dog in a setting like that. But as we don’t go out much in those types of settings I don’t think it will matter much. I do remember my trainer M telling me to take the harness of when we’re on a bus but that’s more for me to carry and be conscious of not leaving behind. Ellie’s had no problems lying down with the harness on for the past two years, seems a bit silly to start to change now, but we’ll see. Another thing was Smokey bones. I give Ellie minty treats but I don’t very often give her hide bones or smokey bones. I worry about the calorific content and don’t want her to get obese, you see so many overweight dogs, it’s not good, humans don’t realise just HOW much they give their pets and what it does to their systems. Most people know not to give dogs chocolate because it’s bad for them, well giving them your left over English breakfast is also not good for them. But she explained that I could give her smokey bones and just deduct some from her evening meal as she’s only on one can of food a day.

Off to the vets tomorrow for worm stuff, ear cleaning stuff and cotton wool! what an exciting life we lead.

Tesco’s has just pulled up so it’s time to sort out the shopping and put it away. find some munchies, make a cuppa and….. R E L A X.

I can’t explain why The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one of my favourite books. I have no problem going back and rereading over and over again. It’s an emotional story, and naturally I favour some passages over others and some I just can’t bring myself to reread every again.
But I like it all the same, it’s the only book I have on pretty much every format because I like to have it wherever I am. Audio CD for my daisy reader, audio download on my iPod touch, large print book for when I used to be able to read more visually, on Kindle because I can supe up the text, I even have a paperback version from when it first came out, I knew I couldn’t read it but I can always find someone around me read things for me.

The Hunger Games and The Circle Trilogy also have special places in my heart. I might Instagram my favourite passes of those someday.

I’ll need to check the recipe with mum, I think we made a 1 lb mix of pastry but it might have been more, I’ll edit this later with the recipe below.

I think what draws us in, myself included. Is the promise of instant punishment for wrong doers, it is such a simple but powerful thing. It doesn’t seem to matter so much about ‘good’ and ‘bad’, just the brain washed idea of ‘different’, people willingly go along with death penalties and lose their own sense of humanity for a few seconds of entertainment. Bloodshed has become the new drug.

I’m drawn to both of these books because like the rest of us, I like to think I can rebel against an authority that is usually corrupted by greed. And any middle finger at their ideals, be it physical or literal means something positive in an odd way.  Which intern led me on to thinking about just rebelling against authority because it’s just the thing to do, the natural response, whether it’s actually in the right or not. Going with the flow, it’s hard to detangle yourself from the flowing crowd once you’ve been in there for so long. I think you need to leave the crowd every now and then to just check what you are actually opposing and if you really feel it’s worth it. Especially as most of us live with the luxury of not having The Hunger Games or Big Brother ready to aim and kill you for even thinking of disobeying, it would be a different world for sure if we did and I don’t think any of us could say it would make the world a better place or not. In The Hunger Games version, it is definitely not for the better.

A close friend introduced me to a Facebook group called The Christian Left, at first it seemed like a place to learn, to share a faith, meet new friends, the usual things you go in search of, but more and more status’ have really affected me. It’s not Gods love they are spreading, a lot of it that I’ve had plastered on my feed is judgement and hatred, for non believers, people in politics, others faiths, any one that doesn’t fit their ideals. It was my moment to fight the flow, to jump out of the crowd, to find myself, my voice in a crowd that was shouting. I had gone along and shouted for awhile till I realised that it’s not what I believe. I don’t want to be affiliated with it anymore. I’ve left the group and I don’t think any less of my friend for staying in there, but it just wasn’t for me. I don’t think any part of being a Christian, is openly judging, critiquing, coercing others to hate, judge, belittle and ruin reputations of the living or the dead for their different ideals. I believe true judgement comes from God an only God and it will come on judgement day and not a day sooner. Our job isn’t to judge, our job, down here, right now and has always been, just to love, not understand, not belittle, or promote hatred. It really hurts me to see so many groups missing the point of the faith they profess, I can’t begin to even imagine what it’s doing to the Creator.

I enjoyed reading both of these books but what scares the hell out of me is that a growing generation and on a bigger scale, nations, are taking this fictional idea and trying to implement it into their daily lives, in their societies, somehow we have lost track of that fact that God is a super power and government and even though he does not strike us down the instant we step out of line, because he loves us and judgement will come at the end, we think it’s our job to judge and sentence to death because of differences. We are on our way to our own version of Big Brother and The Hunger Games and the ending will not be what any of us ever thought it would be.